Foundation and Earth

The fifth novel in Asimov's popular Foundation series opens with second thoughts. Councilman Golan Trevize is wondering if he was right to choose a collective mind as the best possible future for humanity over the anarchy of contentious individuals, nations and planets. To test his conclusion, he decides he must know the past and goes in search of legendary Earth, all references to which have been erased from galactic libraries. The societies encountered along the way become arguing points in a book-long colloquy about man's fate, conducted by Trevize and traveling companion Bliss, who is part of the first world/mind, Gaia.

This is really part two of Foundation's Edge, so don't read it unless you've read Foundation's Edge first. It picks up exactly where that book left off with the same set of characters and finishes the story (while, as always, leaving hints that there should be yet another sequel).

peter_103
Feb 24, 2016

Possibly the worst ever from this author. It felt like he was just forcing the story along to be done with it.
The plot was poorly written and the character development was virtually zero. It adds nothing to the foundation story and

(SPOILER)

It renders the entire Foundation series null and void, making all the other books pointless.

well, it is a good si fi book but not as great as the first the foundation trilogy and foundation edge, we all know the truth is already on the earth and I think not everyone accept the system of Gaya.

I liked how it wrapped up the "Foundation Trilogy" I read 30+ yeas ago. Foundation's Edge as the 4th book in the trilogy was a solid book all the way through, but in this book Asimov at times seemed to be extending the length just to meet the publisher's word count demand and he awkwardly/bizarrely tried being even more modern by constantly incorporating sexual content that was just out of place. The bizarreness of this aside it is worth the read for anybody who has read the rest of the series (OK if missed prequels) to tie up loose ends somewhat.... especially if you've read some of the robot series.

Not a lot of action (mostly talk), slow at times, and somewhat not believable; "soft" science fiction. Lots of telepathy, psychology, and hypothetical situations if you are into that sort of thing, but I wasn't. Interesting enough, just not incredibly exciting. Characters need more development. It does bridge the gap between foundation series and I, Robot however, so it may be a great read for Asimov fans.